The construction sector in Mysuru has gained steam and is rebounding towards pre-COVID level of activity, fuelled by consumer demand for housing.
This is also reflected in the return of the migrant workers with specialisation in areas such as tile-laying, carpentry, and painting and they are in high demand.
Though the days following the lockdown announced on March 25 weres fraught with uncertainty and the sector went into a tailspin with the exit of the workers, the situation is almost nearing normal, according to most stakeholders.
“There is no shortage of labour and material as far as the construction sector is concerned and we are witnessing a strong revival’’, said R. Ravindra Bhat of the Builders Association of India and founder of Foundations Ltd., a housing and apartment construction firm in the city.
He said the activity is also fuelled by the continuing demand for housing ranging from luxury segment to the budget category units and this has shored up the sector faster than it was imagined earlier.
Many of the builders had offered a rebate ranging from ₹3 lakh to ₹5 lakh which helped create a surge in demand for ready-to-occupy apartments and for early bookings. This was before and during the festival season and has since been withdrawn as the consumer and the market sentiment has been lifted, Mr. Bhat said.
The inventory of unsold housing apartments of the builders has steadily dropped during the last few months, indicating that sales have picked up, Mr. Bhat added.
N. Subramanya of the BAI said many of the skilled labourers are so preoccupied with completion of the pending work that builders find it difficult to engage them in new projects. “Though this may indicate a labour shortage, it also underlines the fact that workers are continuously engaged and the newcomers are almost immediately being absorbed by the sector’’, Mr. Subramanya added.
The development is also an indicator of the near-normalcy reached in the supply chain mechanism. Stakeholders pointed out that the construction sector revolves around regular supply of material including cement, iron and steel, sanitary fittings, tiles, electrical fittings etc all of which have to be readily available and a shortage of one element can hold up projects. That new projects are being launched is an indicator of the confidence in the restoration of the supply chain mechanism.
That the early days of the pandemic and the gloom surrounding it during March-April and May is a thing of the past is borne out by the recent auction of stray and corner sites by the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA). The city development body auctioned 170 sites and accrued ₹115.6 crore. MUDA Chairman H.V. Rajiv avers the willingness of the end-users to invest or buy sites for residential and commercial purpose in auction is another indicator of the construction and real estate sector approaching near-normalcy.
